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Blue in the Face

Synopsis

Augie runs a small tobacco shop in Brooklyn, New York. The whole neighborhood comes to visit him to buy cigarettes and have some small talk. During the movie Lou Reed tries to explain why he has to have a cut on his health insurance bill if he keeps smoking and Madonna acts as a Singing Telegram.

This companion piece to "Smoke" was filmed in six days with the same set, cast and crew as "Smoke", and it was mostly improvised. You can tell. Especially when Roseanne is acting. Keitel, Jim Jarmusch, and Victor Argo are up to the task, as well as a few others. But as good as they are, they are countered by equally bad performances in a handful of forced and awkward scenes. Overall this felt like a nice dessert for fans of "Smoke". And like dessert, I was fairly sick of it by the time it was done.

They clearly shot too much footage for the film "Smoke," so they took all the funny stuff and made a comic parallel film. It's a riot. I don't remember much detail but I remember that I laughed my ass off and loved it.

Like many other people, I enjoyed this far more than the heavy-handed (accidental pun) "Smoke". The loose, free-wheeling quality of the film is what really makes it work. Vignettes and real-life (?) interviews mix together to paint a picture of what it means to be from Brooklyn. I forgot how fucking great Lou Reed was in this film.

One of the few cases for me where I feel the sequel is an improvement on the original, it's certainly a lot funnier and more insightful about Brooklyn life. Not all of it works, though (especially the parts with Roseanne), but overall this is hugely enjoyable. "Off on a natural charge, Bon Voyage Yeah, from the home of the Dodgers, Brooklyn squad"

Blue in the Face is a loose follow-up to Smoke that acts as Brooklyn's very own version of Slacker or Clerks. It tracks Harvey Keitel and his smoke shop, and his slice of life events that occurs in Brooklyn. Throughout we also get some brief bits of history and testimony of the city. We get to see Lou Reed on New York, Jim Jarmusch on smoking, Michael J. Fox doing surveys on penises, and other little vignettes scattered about.

There are two 'main' stories going on, Keitel's relationship with this woman which didn't really seem to go anywhere, and Keitel's boss selling the smoke shop which never seems like a real threat. But none of these stories ever feel like…

NYC slacker comedy with the most balls-out terrific cast I've seen since Dennis Hopper's unwatchable Catchfire. Sure, it's slight and has no real plot to speak of, beyond a few somewhat linear incidents that feel almost crudely inserted into this freeform trifle, but it's funny as hell and wallows comfortably (although never too comfortably) in that Brooklyn vibe. Naturalistic, improvised, never too spectacular...

Harvey Keitel - in the midst of his '90s indie renaissance - leads the cast, but look out for the late Lou Reed (whose lyrics are themselves tiny vignettes from great New York movies we can only imagine - see Romeo Had Juliette) as a rambling "philosopher". Reed sold records, but he's in many ways as "alternative"…

The freestyle counterpart to Smoke, which isn't surprising given this was primarily cobbled together from the outtakes of that film. The plot is barely there, concerning the hardly believable threat of the Brooklyn Cigar Store being sold off so that it can be turned into a health food store. To emphasize the importance of this institution we get a history lesson on the baseball Dodgers, and what their relocation to Los Angeles did to the Brooklyn community. Not subtle, but at least interesting, and I felt more immersed in the culture because of this, and other flavors, than I did during the previous film. This is also funnier, with several guests contributing with little bits here and there. Smoke has the better ending, no doubt, but I had a lot more fun with this one's journey, even with it being admittedly fragmented.

A more-or-less needless follow-on to the splendid movie, Smoke; it's more of an ode to the great borough of Brooklyn than a direct sequel. This film does possess a sort of breezy quality to it however, making Blue In The Face a film that you can watch without it demanding your full undivided attention. The humour is hit and miss, nonetheless.

One of the few cases for me where I feel the sequel is an improvement on the original, it's certainly a lot funnier and more insightful about Brooklyn life. Not all of it works, though (especially the parts with Roseanne), but overall this is hugely enjoyable. "Off on a natural charge, Bon Voyage Yeah, from the home of the Dodgers, Brooklyn squad"

They clearly shot too much footage for the film "Smoke," so they took all the funny stuff and made a comic parallel film. It's a riot. I don't remember much detail but I remember that I laughed my ass off and loved it.